And event number two post-pandemic closure is in the books. The BC Open was held August 14/15 at Raptors Knoll DGC in Abbotsford, BC. The event was a three round test that challenged me mentally and physically. Raptors Knoll is a course that provides opportunities and challenges on every hole–of the 18 holes there isn’t a hole I haven’t birdied at some point. At the same time, there isn’t a hole I haven’t double bogeyed (or worse) either. My normal division (MP50) was collapsed into Masters, so of course I went into Open. Time to see what the young bucks were throwing! With the course set up in the long positions, my goal going in was to shoot a 3-4 under par.

Round 1: Unexpected Achievements

I accomplished my goal in the first round—4 under par which had me tied for second, one shot out of the lead. In hindsight, that goal was an aggressive one–that round was about as close to flawless as I could throw it. I started hot, birdying the first five holes, including a technical hole 3 that had been out of reach for me recently–RPM’s new Pekapeka turned out to be the game changer there (a softly thrown straight line up the middle leaving me a 25 foot putt at the top of the hill). My putter (a Tui) also contributed when I hit a 65 foot putt on hole 2.

The rest of the round was spent trying to protect that start. The par 4 hole six is a brutal lefty hole, with a tight 220ft +/- RHBH drive off the tee needed to hit a landing spot that will give you a 250ft +/- uphill run at the basket. Not having a reliable forehand (I’m working on it), my plan was to lay up a 160 ft straight shot with the Tui, then sneak a big hyzer bomb around the corner to the edge of the hill, leaving a 90 foot upshot to the pin. I’ll never get a birdie, but hopefully I avoid the bogie. Well, the layup drive was short, so I had to layup to the RHBH landing zone. A still achievable par, but my Piwakwaka, which loves to glide, did. The 250 ft shot went 280 ft (right over the top of the basket), to land OB long. Happily, I banged the comeback putt for a nice bogey save.

The rest of the round was uneventful–a birdie here, a bogey there, and boom, I found myself on the lead card for round two, one off the pace. As I noted on Facebook, I may not be there at the end, but it was nice to be there then. The round was my first thousand-rated round since 2018 (1003), so all-in-all, I can’t complain.

Round Two: Revenge of the lead card

One of the unintended consequences of throwing well in the morning was a long delay between rounds. The lead card, teeing off last for the day, set out at 6:30PM. We knew we would be racing the light and spoiler alert, I squeaked in the last putt of the day under moon light, ending the round at 9:02PM. It was an interesting round–not nearly as good as the morning round, but a lot of stories to tell. I finished at even (966 rated, so still better than my player rating, but well below that 1003 morning round) but that’s not the story.

Even par for the round with just five pars is the story. Five pars, five bogies, one double bogie, and seven birdies. It was a Dickens of a round… “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” The highlight of the round was hitting an edge of the circle putt in the dark on hole 18 for a birdie to get back to even on the round. My Tui saved my bacon with a bunch of clutch putts all round, and I’m still digging the Pekapeka! It gives me lines that just weren’t available to me without it. Even dropped me from 2nd to a tie for 7th, but all in all, it was a round I wasn’t unhappy with. Each bogey was followed by a birdie and I was able to stay mentally strong throughout. The mantra, “This is the first hole of the rest of my round” kept me from sinking into despair after some bad bogeys.

Round Three: A happy ending

The third round finished solid–two bogies and four birdies. Looking back at it, all three rounds I played mentally tough golf–that’s very different from my normal game of run everything, all the time–and I liked it.

My putt was on all weekend long–and I credit the Tui (such a sweet straight flyer) and the BC Open Champ, Stewart, who reminded a friend of ours (Chris) to putt slower one recent tournament (it worked). I tried it myself, and it works like a champ–eavesdropping is awesome. Thanks Stu whether you know it or not.

There were two highlights of the day. The first was getting one of only two birdie threes on a par four hole that actually averaged 5.16 for the round. The hole is a tight downhill shot to one of two possible landing zones (one high, one low) around 275 feet out, around a mando on the right side of the fairway. Then another 275 shot uphill to an island green. My shot is to go right at the mando with my Piwak, flip it slight left and let the chips fall where they may, then try and chip up to the island for a long run at birdie but a more likely tap in 4. If you go off the fairway, you’re looking at a struggle for par (which explains the three 6s, three 7s, and two 8s thrown by open players that round).

My drive went exactly as planned, running just left of the mando and heading toward the ideal landing spot (lower on the hill and closer to the green) when it went out of sight in the trees. Just as the disc made it’s turn into the trees, a surprised spotter jumped out of the rough and looked at me….then at the disc….then at me…then at the disc, and then gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up! When I got to the disc, it was perfectly placed for a Piwak anhyzer-bomb around the guardian trees to the green…so, that’s what I did. The good news, I did not miss the 15 foot birdie putt.

Even better though, was getting a par on the next hole–hitting a 25 foot putt to save par after a less than stellar upshoot. The kind of putt I would often doink under the pressure. And did I mention there were actual galleries out there today? That’s was frighteningly awesome! Again the Pekapeka was a butter disc and an over-stable Kahu navigated the wind, which was up today, like a hot knife through butter. The two down was a 984 rated round–so played over my rating (947) all three rounds. Also cool was the fact the people were watching on line! It was awesome to hear from folks rooting me on–actually made a real difference in keeping me focused and motivated. Ultimately I finished 8th in Open, top ten in BC! Better than I expected, but about the best I would hope for (score wise). Really pleased to be back playing tournaments and competitive disc golf. As always, thanks to RPM Discs for the support! It’s great to be a part of the Team!